IF there is one thing we in Inverclyde can always rely on it is the yearly occurrence of storm and flood that hinders our daily routines over winter months. This week, and right on cue, storm force winds buffeted homes across our community, uprooting trees and damaging buildings. Here are stormy news pictures from the past.
Pic1: Storms lashed Inverclyde in the January of 2015, tearing the roof from the Inverclyde Royal Hospital gymnasium before depositing it in adjacent gardens around the Bournemouth Road area.
Pic2: Cars were moved from their parking spaces and wheelie bins sent flying when a storm whipped the Clyde into a frenzy in January 2012. I donned a hard hat to take this picture, as slates and other debris were scattered far and wide across Inverclyde.
Pic3: Proving that stormy weather isn't exclusive to January, visiting passengers from cruise ship MV Nautica were given shelter in Greenock Town Hall in September when the vessel's mooring lines broke during a storm. The ship had to be anchored out on the river before returning to her berth at Greenock Ocean Terminal to pick up passengers.
Pic4: Pupils of St Ninian's Primary School in Gourock had a challenging start to 2015 when their school greenhouse was upended and deposited on their raised vegetable beds.
Pic 5: An Inverclyde taxi driver had a lucky escape when howling gales sent a tree crashing down on his vehicle.
The roof, windscreen and doors of the taxi were buckled by the weight of the tree that stood on Greenock's Broomhill Street.
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